US Senate hopeful Stephen Lynch, at a glance

EDUCATION: B.S. in construction management, Wentworth Institute of Technology, 1988; J.D. from Boston College Law School, 1991; Masters in Public Administration, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, 1999.

CAREER: Lynch was an ironworker from 1972 to 1991 and served as president of the Ironworkers Local 7 union from 1988 to 1991. In 1994, Lynch was elected to the state House of Representatives from the South Boston district and in 1996 won a special election to the state Senate. Lynch served in the Senate until 2001, when he won a special election for the U.S. House to succeed the late U.S. Rep. Joseph Moakley. Lynch serves on several congressional panels including the Financial Services Committee, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census.

FAMILY: Lynch lives in South Boston with his wife, Margaret. The couple has a daughter, Victoria.

QUOTE: "I know what it's like to stand in an unemployment line. I learned that in severe economic downturns, that sometimes the only force that can correct that inequity, or give people a chance to lift themselves out of difficulty, or provide some temporary relief, is the government."